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Indians shuffle Minor League staff assignments

Indians shuffle Minor League staff assignments

CLEVELAND -- The Indians unveiled their planned player development staff Friday, revealing changes throughout the organization's Minor League system.

The new alignment includes three different managers among Cleveland's four full-time affiliates. Dave Wallace and Scooter Tucker moved up a level each as the new managers of Double-A Akron and Class A (high) Carolina, respectively. The Indians also hired Mark Budzinski (a former Tribe Minor Leaguer) as manager of Class A (low) Lake County.

That managerial shift was necessitated by the promotion of former Major League manager Edwin Rodriguez to the role of special assistant to baseball operations after he served as manager of Akron last season. Under his new title, Rodriguez will use his experiences as a manager, coach and scout to assist the Indians' staff.

Chris Tremie will remain the manager for Triple-A Columbus.

The 40-year-old Budzinski, who will be making his professional coaching debut, was selected by the Indians in the 21st round of the 1995 First-Year Player Draft. He spent seven seasons in the Indians' farm system before moving on to stints with the Cubs, Brewers, Reds and Phillies. Budzinski (an outfielder during his playing days) was a member of Team USA in the 2001 Baseball World Cup, debuted in the Majors with the Reds in '03 and retired in '05.

The Indians also promoted Luis Ortiz to the role of assistant field coordinator after he joined the club in 2013 as its cultural development and lower-level hitting coordinator.